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by serendipitiness



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: (which is one way to put it), A conversation between demons about their children, Asmodeus pov, Bad Parenting, Gen, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood (mentioned) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-25 21:10:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20730809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipitiness/pseuds/serendipitiness
Summary: Some things don't change: Greater Demons cannot die. Magnus Bane is weak. And Edom will always exist.





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**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [sh_ficletinstruments](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sh_ficletinstruments) collection. 

> **Prompt:**
> 
> "I regret nothing."

It happens in less than a mortal heartbeat.

One moment, he’s nothing. The next, he’s home.

Edom looks different when he arrives. It reminds him of the land of his youth, before death and heat baked the earth to dust, soaked it with enough blood that the dirt turned red. But this is what happens in the aftermath of hell’s destruction -- a rebirth, because no eternal realm can ever truly disappear, heaven or hell or anything in between. Particles may scatter across the dimension, slip into others, waft aimlessly through worlds, but in the end they return to their place, the way he’s done.

The way she has.

“Welcome back,” she says drolly, eyebrow arched. She’s seated under a tree, bare feet nestled in the grass. She looks younger, face unpainted, but there’s no need for appearances here, not between the two of them.

“Thank you,” he answers shortly. “Has it been long?”

“Long enough.” She counts on fingers pale and naked of adornment. “A handful of mortal years I’ve been here alone. The demons have reemerged; they tell me that my son has been murdered by his sister, she’s left then returned to the shadowhunters, and --”

“Lilith, darling,” Asmodeus interrupts. “I don’t care.”

“Maybe you’ll care about this, then,” she answers, eyes flashing. “Your son is married. To that nephilim boy.”

“Alexander Lightwood,” Asmodeus supplies slowly, curiously.

“Yes, that one. The one you tried to part him from, before your own child threw you into limbo.”

“Ah, yes,” he answers sardonically. “The reminder is much appreciated. I’d obviously forgotten that.”

_ Married_, he thinks. It's not unexpected; he's surprised it didn't happen sooner, what with Magnus' soft heart, his ceaseless need to be _ loved_. For someone so strong in blood and strong in power, it’s infuriating to see him constantly lowering himself, subjecting himself to the whims of the weak. And now he’s gone ahead and _ tied _himself to one.

“I suppose you’re recognizing that it’s your heavy hand that caused their union. In forcing your son and his lover apart, they only drew closer together.” She laughs, sharp as broken bone, and the grass around her shrivels. “Don’t blame yourself, Asmodeus. Children never know to listen to their mothers and fathers.”

Asmodeus shakes his head and settles down next to her, staring out at his land, ripe and green and fit for a war. Coming back to himself after a blow like this is always slow, power dripping back into him in a trickle, but it’ll get there -- he’s in no rush. He leans back against the tree and closes his eyes. “You’re wrong. There’s nothing for me to regret.”

Because maybe in the mortal realm, Magnus thinks he’s won.

Magnus is a stupid boy, though. He’s forgotten, perhaps, that one day soon, this great love of his will die. When he breathes his last breath, Magnus will break, he will be abandoned again, more alone than he’s ever been, and Asmodeus knows…

He will finally have him then.

**Author's Note:**

> anything mentioned here regarding greater demons, how they resurrect themselves, and how realms of hell work is 100% made up by me :)


End file.
